


Little Soldier Boy

by MMPRPink



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Post-Order 66, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25997194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MMPRPink/pseuds/MMPRPink
Summary: "Falling so slow"The grief at the loss of his brothers. Rex stands before the mass grave, alone after Commander Tano left him for his safety with the brand of Jedi fugitive over her head. Rex grieves alone.Years later… the last Clone Trooper of the Grand Army of the Republic gets his closure and grieves alone.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	Little Soldier Boy

**Author's Note:**

> This was itching in my brain. I'm a bit of an ATLA fan, I loved this series and "Leaves From the Vine (Little Soldier Boy)" really hit hard. It's short, digestible, I wrote it in about 2 or 3 hours. It's angsty as crap.
> 
> I do not own the song "Leaves From the Vine (Little Soldier Boy)". The rights of the song belongs to Jeremy Zuckerman who wrote it in honour of Mako Iwamatsu (1933-2006) after his passing who voiced Iroh.
> 
> I dunno if it's right to say enjoy, but I hope you like it?

_"Only the dead have seen the end of war."_

\- Plato

* * *

Character Profile:

Captain Rex (CT-7567):

Age: 13 (Standard)/26 (Clone) Years

Born: 32 BBY

Planet of Origin: Kamino; Wild Space

Species: Human (Mandolorian Clone)

Affiliation/Position: Former Captain of the 501st Legion, Former Leader of Torrent Company, Former Commander of the 332nd Company

* * *

_ Year: 19 BBY; 1089th Day of the Clone War… _

_ Time: Unknown… _

_ State of Day: Unknown… _

Canon: _Victory and Death; Star Wars - The Clone Wars Season 7_

( _Scene: Mass Grave, Venator Crash Site, Unidentified Moon, Region Unidentified_ )

Commander… former Commander… no, he's no longer that. Captain… no, not that either. Former Captain of the once proud 501st Legion, Rex (CT-7567), just… Rex. Rex stood before the mass grave of his buried brothers, resting in dirt mounds, surrounded by the wreckage of the crashed Venator Star Destroyer. Rex doesn't even know where or what moon he is on, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Commander… here he goes again, former Commander Ahsoka Tano, after arguing with him chose to go separate ways. It was for his protection, she is too recognisable. Ahsoka Tano is now once again a futigive, a fugitive of the Galactic Republic because the Jedi were deemed traitors. Order Sixty-six was issued and without a doubt, because it was so quiet, so sudden, no Jedi could ever expect their own troops to turn against them; to raise their blasters against the Jedi Generals and Commanders they have dutifully served and formed bonds with for the three years of the war. It wouldn't surprise Rex if a good majority of the Jedi have been wiped out. It hurt him, it hurt Rex greatly to watch his brothers become nothing but mindless flesh droids, no better than the droids who fought for the Separatists. It was a nightmare for Rex when fell under the control of his biochip, located in the frontal lobe. It felt… it was like he was floating in his own mind, unconscious as a different person took control, he wasn't Rex, Rex was gone. He was CT-7567 or Sixty-seven. He was a flesh droid programmed to follow one single-minded order: kill the Jedi. Kill Ahsoka. He almost killed his little sister, his vod'ika, their vod'ika. Of course, Tano knew them all so well, she was able to survive and she liberated him from his chip. He was Rex again.

Rex's dull eyes scanned the mass graves, they were nameless, but some could be identified by their helmets that were propped up by any wooden poles they could salvage or long pieces of metal. He and Ahsoka spent hours scourging the wreckage after the fires of Venator died and cooled down enough to be safe to enter. They spent hours and even most likely a day even passed to find the bodies of the fallen, their helmets no matter how damaged or cracked they were, then placed them into their burial pit, their bodies covered over by a mix of dirt and burnt rocks that scorched the ground. Little Gods, sometimes they had to pause to regurgitate their insides, throwing up bile and water at the sight of some of the bodies. Some of the troops were not even bodies, sometimes they had to bury a limb, an arm or a leg, half a body, a severed head, a body without a head. Yet, simply by the markings on the armour, they both knew who they were eerily burying. It was… a haunting process, one that even haunts Tano. She could feel the death through the Force after all. It took them about… four days, it felt longer, to find what bodies they could bury and honour them, even if the brothers were out to kill them in cold blood. Ahsoka already forgives them, she understood about the chips because Rex fought the chip long enough to tell her to ' _find Fives (CT/ARC-5555)_ '. She did, found his file, the recording Rex left after the ARC (Advanced Recon Commando) Trooper died. The heartbreaking part was when they managed to find Jesse's (CT/ARC-5597) body. His armour covered in dirt and soot, scraped and his abdomen impaled by a piece of metal. At least he died quickly. They removed the metal, Tano used whatever fabric they had to cover the wound and stem the bleeding. They buried him amongst his brothers, his helmet with the Galactic Republic Cog perched on the pole. The makeshift bandage obviously wasn't enough to stop the excessive bleeding in his torso, his blood has probably flowed into the grounds of this barren land. His blood, the blood of all their brothers flows through this now haunted land. A land of the dead.

Tano went her own way, told him she would find her own way off the moon. His friend let him keep the Y-Wing. He needed it more than she did. How she will do that, Rex will never know, but he trusts her. If anything, Ahsoka is one of the most resourceful Jedi and soldier he has met. Rex is proud to serve by her side. The former Commander and Captain, now also a fugitive finished saying the Mandolorian rite for the remembrance of the dead. He then opened his mouth, closing his eyes and his rough toned voice sang, filling the empty void of the soundless moon.

[Rex]:

_"Leaves from the vine_

_Falling so slow_

_Like fragile tiny shells_

_Drifting in the foam_

_Little soldier boy_

_Comes marching home"_

Coruscant was their home, if they were not thinking of the sterile, cold and wet life of Kamino. Home was Coruscant. Home was the Clone Barracks. Rex even admits, home was Kamino, his planet of birth.

[Rex]:

_"Those leaves did grow_

_From branches overgrown_

_Drifting slowly down_

_Resting on the loam_

_Little soldier boy_

_Taken from home_

_Forced to fight a war_

_That's not his own_

_Leaves from the vine_

_Falling so slow_

_Like fragile tiny shells_

_Drifting in the foam_

_Little soldier boy_

_Comes marching home."_

His voice choked, he couldn't finish the song. Rex only made it to the second verse and sung the lyrics twice. His knees buckled, with no one to watch him but the dead buried in the mass grave before him, Rex let go. The tears came, watering his eyes, falling down his cheeks like a waterfall. Rex collapsed to the ground and wept for his fallen brothers. Yet, also for himself.

The war has ended and it costed him everything.

* * *

Character Profile:

Kix (CT-6116):

Age: 15 (Standard)/30 (Clone) Years

Born: 32 BBY (Birth)/31 ABY (Reawakened from cryostatsis)

Planet of Origin: Kamino; Wild Space

Species: Human (Mandolorian Clone)

Affiliation/Position: Former Member of the 501st Legion, Former Member of Torrent Company, Former Combat Medic, Member of the Crimson Corsair

* * *

_ Fifty-two Years Later… _

_ Year: 33 ABY… _

_ Time: Unknown… _

_ State of Day: Unknown… _

Canon: _Pre-Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens_

( _Scene: Mass Grave, Venator Crash Site, Unidentified Moon, Region Unidentified_ )

Surviving Clone Combat Medic Kix (CT-6116) walked the now snowy ground of this unnamed moon. Raiding old data banks of the so-called Galactic Empire, he has found a report about a crash site on a moon. It took a fair bit of narrowing down, but with some resources of his new friends in the form of pirates who found him in the cryostasis pod two years ago, 31 ABY, he has at long last found the resting place of his fallen brothers. They're all gone, he's the last one left. There wasn't much to see, the rusted and eroded wreckage of the Venator from the days of the Galactic Republic and on the verge of collapsing in on itself. It surely is now a relic, a relic of the Old Republic.

Kix himself is literally a living, breathing relic of the Old Republic. Kneeling down, call it a gut instinct, Kix began to bury into the cold snow, ignoring the gradual numbness in his hands, as they became red due to the cold. He knew his new pirate crew were watching, he didn't explain why he begged them to bring them here, after screaming, shouting and yelling at the crew of the Crimson Corsair. They gave in, they stood to the side, away to allow Kix to do what he needed to do. Alone. When his numbed hand finally hit something solid, the former medic pulled the item from the ground. It was a cracked Phase Two Clone Trooper helmet, while the painting was faded, it was the unmistakable symbol of the Republic Cog. Kix instantly knew whose grave was below him. It was Jesse. Kix leaned his forehead against Jesse's helmet, trying hard not to cry. Medics don't cry. Medics don't cry unless they failed to keep a fellow brother alive from their wounds. Kix won't cry. Instead Kix sang.

[Kix]:

_"Leaves from the vine_

_Falling so slow_

_Like fragile tiny shells_

_Drifting in the foam_

_Little solider boy says_

_'Come carry me home'_

_Sleeping soldier boy_

_Is carried home"_

Closure.

Kix wailed in anguished grief.

_Fin_

* * *

Mando'a Translations:

Vod'ika: Little brother/Sister/Comrade


End file.
